1.1 – Why is a CommonsBased Approach Relevant? The commons-based approach applied to decentralized collective electricity access systems (from the electricity kiosk to the mini-grid) is new and still largely unstudied (fewer than 50 research papers on the subject have been listed since 2010). However, the approach that involves applying the conceptual tools of the commons to decentralized collective electricity access systems (from the electricity kiosk to the mini-grid) changes the way in which we consider these systems’ methods of governance and opens up new avenues to develop them. Berthélemy (2016) sets out the characteristics of these systems, where local communities play a key role in developing and administering access to the services. He details the way in which these approaches can prove effective in terms of reliable electricity provision, effective governance (sharing usage of electricity production and storage capacity, making choices about maintenance and extension, price-setting, etc.), as well as in terms of limiting fraud and non-payment: “[this] proximity [among user-managers of the common good] enables governance conducive to allowing for the collective interest rather than a non-cooperative equilibrium in which individual interests predominate.” Jacquemot and Reboulet (2017) and Gollwitzer and Cloke (2018) demonstrate that approaches based on the involvement of local communities are also
© AFD – Policy Paper February 2021
beneficial in that they more easily combine access to renewable energies and other Sustainable Development Goals: no poverty; gender equality; reduced inequalities; and peace and justice. In fact, these approaches furnish a subtle definition of project goals with the local communities in such a way that they actually meet the needs of the communities (even in areas that are not strictly energy-related). T h e se a uth o rs, a l o n g w i th F ra n z e t a l . (2 0 14) and Bhattacharyya (2013), point out that these approaches require local communities to receive specific assistance on the human, technical, economic, and financial fronts. They also call for particular attention to be paid to governance (definition of the roles of the community and any partners, etc.), and to the choice of sites and the beneficiary communities. The community’s social capital is a key factor to success. For all these reasons, it seems relevant to examine decentralized collective electricity access systems against the yardstick of the commonsbased approach. The resource considered is then simultaneously the electricity and the system that produces it, composed of electricity production units and, in the case of micro-grids and mini-grids, of the distribution system itself. An examination of the eight design principles identified by Ostrom and her team to define commons sustainability conditions shows that it is perfectly feasible to apply them to the case of decentralized collective electricity access systems (Table 1).
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